A’s 3, Rockies 1: Runners in scoring position continue to be kryptonite in loss

After an exciting complete game from Antonio Senzatela on Tuesday, the Rockies were unable to continue the momentum as they lost to the A’s on Wednesday. It is the third time in their last five games where they’ve lost a game in which the starting pitcher recorded a quality start, and their fifth time scoring two or fewer runs at home.

Offensive woes are becoming...offensive

The well-documented offensive woes continued as they were only able to score a single run in the third inning. Raimel Tapia earned the lone RBI on a single to center. He was also one of two Rockies to record multiple runs — the other was Tony Wolters. Wolters’ double was the only extra-base hit by the Rockies on Wednesday.

The Rockies had opportunities in the fourth and fifth with runners in scoring position, but were unable to bring them home. Overall, they went 1-for-8 with RISP. Both Charlie Blackmon and David Dahl were held hitless, and Dahl has gone just 1-for-7 since returning from the IL. Strikeouts remain a concern as well, with the Rockies racking up nine more today.

Bud Black expressed some frustration postgame about the lack of clutch hitting:

“I think we’ve seen that a lot the last month or so where we’ve had the opportunities to cash in or to get a big hit — a clutch hit — and we just haven’t gotten it consistently,” he said. “So it’s frustrating for the guys right there, and they’re coming back to the dugout angry and frustrated. But they’ve just got to keep going and hopefully one of these days we can catch a little lightning and continue on and everybody sort of gets hot. But their guy made some pitches and we just didn’t capitalize them on the few opportunities that we had.”

Tony Wolters, who was also visibly frustrated, echoed the sentiments:

“We want to we want to string our hits together more. That’s what we need,” he said. “But at the same time, yeah we’re angry because we expect to win every game. That’s our mentality. We’re expecting to win. We feel like we’re the best team each and every day when we get out on the field and we expect great things from each of our teammates. Yeah, I think we’re just fine. We want to win. We just need to stay focused pitch-to-pitch, inning-by-inning, and keep doing that until the last game.”

Murky Márquez

Germán Márquez had a decent outing today, but was still saddled with the loss. His record is now 2-6 in his 11 starts this year. He held the A’s to six hits in 6 ²⁄₃ innings, but allowed three runs and a season-high four walks. Strikeouts weren’t a concern for him, as he got six A’s by the way of the K.

Márquez started off the ballgame by giving up a double to Marcus Semien, but then sent down Robbie Grossman, Tommy La Stella, and Matt Olson in order. Even in the second he allowed back-to-back baserunners in Jake Lamb and Sean Murphy, but got Ramon Laureano to ground into a double play.

The third inning was where things got a little messy when he gave up back-to-back walks, and allowed Tony Kemp to take second on a throwing error. Kemp eventually came around to score on a crazy 3-5-2-5 fielder’s choice in which he slid in front of Josh Fuentes trying to cover the plate.

Márquez did come back with 1-2-3 fourth and fifth innings, and only threw seven pitches in the fourth. He didn’t pitch horribly, but Mike Fiers pitched better.

Up Next

The Dodgers come to town for the final home series of 2020. Kyle Freeland gets the nod on Thursday against Julio Urías. First pitch is at 6:40pm MT.